Perhaps that was the real quest of this adventure, the infinite quest for connection with everything, everyone, everywhere, always – the quest to let down my barriers, let go of my agendas and expectations, and simply be open to when and what may come, now and next.*
(Brian McLaren)

NUNCHI n. The subtle, often unnoticed art of listening and gauging another’s mood.**
(Ella Frances Sanders)

Karen Armstrong describes the state of ekstasis as being beside one’s self or rapt out of one’s self:

The aim if the step is threefold: (1) to recognise and appreciate the unknown and unknowable; (2) to become sensitive to over-confident assertions of certainty in ourselves and other people; and (3) to make ourselves aware of the numinous mystery of each human being we encounter during the day.^

Sometimes we must speak, but not as much as we think.

For the rest of the time we have the gift of silence and listening.

The kind of silence that is about openness to the other becomes our portal to knowledge, understanding, intelligence and wisdom, out of which llife-in-all-its-fullness can form itself within us.

*From Brian Mclaren’s God Unbound;
**From Ella Frances Sanders’ Lost in Translation; nunchi is a Korean word;
^From Karen Armstron’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.